Posts in Category : PWP Announcements
Quietly Decisive: The Work of Israeli Photographer Adi Tarkay
I was running through a gallery building in Bushwick when something bold caught my eye. It was work of Israeli photographer Adi Tarkay who is having his first U.S. solo show, Story of Three Halves at Fuchs Projects. The photographs were technically dazzling–high contrast B&W on aluminum–and aesthetically intriguing. Each contained what seemed to be two very different images that functioned like separate panels of a diptych. I was told by the artist that no Photoshop was used, that on his wanderings through New York City, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and Kyoto, he had discovered and captured these strangely divided scenes in a quiet and very personal decisive moment. Some planes were flattened, while others receded deeply into space. Like two scenes spliced [continue reading...]
30 For 30: Exhibition and Anger
To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re featuring items from the PWP archives each day on this blog. In looking back, we see not only where we started, but how far photography, women, and the world have come since 1975. Personal computers did not exist in 1975, so the roster for the FIT show Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers had to be mimeographed for distribution. It was the largest exhibition of its kind at the time, and featured photo luminaries such as Ruth Orkin, Suzanne Opton, Mary Ellen Mark, Susan Meiselas, and Dianora Niccolini, who would become PWP’s first president. Dismayed by the lack of press, Dannielle Hayes, one of the organizers, brought exhibitors together at ICP (then on [continue reading...]
Women’s History Month: To the Sisters!
This year or maybe last, origins being somewhat fuzzy, Professional Women Photographers celebrated its 40th anniversary. Officially the start was 1975, but it was probably 1976 when it really got going. Participants from the landmark FIT show, Breadth of Vision: Portfolios of Women Photographers, began to meet. Sometimes they spoke about prints, sometimes about job leads, and sometimes they nursed bruises received trying to fight their way into the field. If it’s tough now, it was worse then. They tell stories of sweeping up in the darkroom after men, of being shoved during shoots, of hands clapped over their lenses so the guy could get the shot. In college, I went to Olden to buy a camera and the salesman [continue reading...]
Museum Insider: Jacqueline de Ribes The Art of Style
By Donna Rocco The Costume Institute’s latest exhibition gives you an insider view of style icon Countess Jacqueline de Ribes. This countess ran her own design business from the early eighties until the mid-nineties. She was a muse, business women, interior designer and television producer. These images are of some of the gowns and dresses that are part of her collection. The exhibit is located in gallery 980-981 of the Metropolitan Museum and closes February 21st. Donna Rocco has loved photography from the moment she held the first camera in her hand and felt the connection between herself and the visual world. She has worked as a photographer for over two decades in areas including: advertising, editorial, live action, sports, promotion [continue reading...]
The Sultry Historical Eye of Petra Mason
Petra Mason is one of those people who does many things very well. She is a cultural historian, a founding partner of Books & Books Press, and has published and produced many books including New York, The Glass House and The Spirit of Miami Beach. I discovered her through an eye-catching volume on a friend’s coffee table: Beefcake 100% Rare, All Natural, a study of male pinups of the 1950s and 60s. Mason also explored female pinups of that era in Bettie Page Queen of Curves and Bunny Yeager’s Darkroom. Though sumptuous, these books are rich in historical and biographical detail, with intros by notables like Dita Von Teese and Lady Bunny. There is more going on than cheesecake, but it’s a [continue reading...]